Scary on one hand, tiring on the other. I think I may have preferred my California earthquakes! I want to take it seriously…I do…but I must admit that I don’t run around shutting my windows and loading the tub with supplies. (I do however, keep the ‘panic room’ stocked in the event we should have to go in there during any disaster, so we’d just have to grab our cells and the dogs..and of course, at least one laptop in the event we can keep internet access. Yes, we’re geeks.)

On the other hand, BB is prepared. Very much so. I didn’t want to tell him about the alert on Monday of this week. He was happily playing and I didn’t <yet> see the need to worry him. The choice was taken away though by yet another EAS — emergency alert system — broadcast. I know they save lives, but they are so loud, they not only get your attention but they startle a sound-sensitive child and send him straight into packing mode.

I hear rumbling, moving, scraping..crashing..”Uhm, BB, what are you doing?”

“I’m packing, Mom!”

“Packing?”

“Yes, if the tornado really hits here, I need to be prepared. I want to be cautious. I have things that are very important to me so I want them accessible in case this tornado is real this time. Better to be prepared, Mom!”

Well, he told me! I let him go on with it, and by that time, I was shutting windows and putting the dogs out for a quick potty before those black clouds were entirely overhead. I peeked in on the panic room and saw what he had packed.

His plush Pokemon collection. (“Mom, it’s irreplaceable, you know!!”)

A change of clothes.

A waterproof jacket.

His favorite pillow and the blanket his oldest sister made him.

His DSi and case.

A pile of art supplies so he could draw pictures.

And my favorite of his piles? His entire Diary of a Wimpy Kid book set! It’s not like it’s fine literature, but it is funny and I credit it with getting BB to sit down and read a book FOR FUN and ask for more. For that, I will be forever grateful.

When we move, now I know I need to be sure those books are accessible and treated with the utmost respect they deserve. And if we ever do have to evacuate or hide in the panic room, you can bet they will go with us.